House Passes Fiscal Cliff Deal, 257-167

For hours on New Year's Day, it looked like the House Republican caucus would throw business as usual to the wind, throw a wrench in the Senate-approved tax-cut and sequestration deal, and plunge over the cliff in protest of the $4 trillion price tag in an absence of spending cuts.

GOP lawmakers reported dissension in the afternoon meeting to discuss the debt deal. Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), without further explanation, told reporters that he did not support the Senate bill. There were rumors that the bill could even be pushed into Thursday -- the beginning of the 113th Congress -- to force negotiators to start all over with a slate of House-demanded amendments to cut spending.

But in the whip count to determine if the bill should be brought to the floor, GOP leadership whipped enough of the caucus -- which recently dealt a humiliating blow to Speaker John Boehner's (R-Ohio) Plan B compromise -- into submission.

The bill passed 257-167 at 11 p.m., sending the deal to President Obama's desk for a signature. The total included 151 Republican "nays" and 16 Democratic objectors.

"Just voted NO," Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) tweeted during the vote. Republican Conference Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) was another dissenter. Many members waited until the last minute to cast their votes.

In an hour of late-night debate, only House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) stood up in stark opposition to the bill.

"I'd like to be speaking for this bill, but I can't," Issa said, noting that he's previously voted for every tax cut. "There's $4 trillion of new debt and deficit and there's no pay-for."

He added that he does not believe the extension of the tax cuts will be followed by promised spending cuts. "I cannot bring myself to vote for it tonight," Issa said.

House Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) spun his support for the bill, which he called a "critical vote for the future of this country," into a glass-half-full, noting it would make permanent the tax cuts originally crafted by his party.

"After a decade of criticizing these tax cuts, Democrats are finally joining with Republicans in making these permanent," Camp said, promising his committee would pursue comprehensive tax reform in the next Congress.

No one from the GOP leadership spoke on the floor, and the Republicans yielded the debate to a parade of Democrats patting each others' backs, chiding the GOP for not acting bipartisan enough, and urging passage of the deal.